Hello again...

Today I'd like to tell you something about the Czech Republic. It's a country in Central Europe. The capital ist the wonderful and largest city Prague. The Czech Republic is also a full member of the European Union. Do you know Prague? Have you ever been to Prague or do you know people who come from Prague?

Like some other European countries the Czech Rebpublic has suffered very much during the second world war. Many Jewish People were killed there in the concentration camp at Theresienstadt. And although discrimination shouldn't be a problem nowadays there are still a lot of problems. Discrimination and violence against the Roma population there or foreigners for example is quite "normal". I think the Czech policy of violence and prejudices must be changed. But exactly this culture has a long tradition! Please read more and let me know your opinion.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia were slammed hard by both the Nazi holocaust and occupation, its brutal history of Soviet rule inside what is now the Czech Republic continues to surface. The reign of holocaust terror during World War II, in what is now the Czech Republic, included the Nazi concentration camp at Theresienstadt, where it is estimated that 33,000 Czech prisoners, most of them Czech Jews, met their end under brutal working conditions. Theresiendstadt is one of the concentration camps that the Nazis showed to the Red Cross, in order to illustrate the camps’ supposed benignity to the world. In order to show that the space was not overcrowded, many prisoners, ironically, were sent to Poland, to be exterminated in Auschwitz.

During the Communist reign, it is reported that tens of thousands of Czechs were targeted by the government as potential political dissidents, enemies of the state, or "the People." Persecution involved hard time in labor camps, imprisonment, death, torture and disappearance.

Today, human rights issues continue to plague the Czech Republic, despite the absence of a totalitarian regime. In addition to isolated incidences of police brutality – including against foreigners – Czech policy and culture is still a place of discrimination against and violence towards the Roma population. Gender discrimination perseveres, and justice is slow in coming for many.

Some sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresienstadt_concentration_camp

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6114738.stm

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61644.htm

Best wishes from Bucharest...

Svetlana